2017 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll — No. 4

Oklahoma City takes over No. 1 spot

April 18, 2017

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By Alan Grosbach, Associate Director of Athletics Communications and MediaPhoto by Hugh Scott

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the first time since 2015, Oklahoma City garners the No. 1 ranking in the fourth regular-season edition of the 2017 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The Stars, who last held the No. 1 ranking on May 8, 2015, gathered 16 first-place votes and 467 total points en route to the top-spot. The final regular-season edition will release on May 2.

Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 2000)• Oklahoma City boasts the No. 1 ranking for the 33rd time in program history. The Stars have been listed among the top five for four-straight editions since joining the poll in the first regular-season poll.• The Stars are the only team to reach the 40-win threshold, as the team enters the week with a NAIA-best 40-5 record.• Oklahoma City has won 21 of its last 22 games, including a three-game series sweep of Sooner Athletic Conference Rival Wayland Baptist (Texas) over the weekend. The Stars lone loss was a 12-3 defeat to No. 13 Texas Wesleyan on April 8.• Previous No. 1, Faulkner (Ala.) slips to No. 2 this week. The Eagles, who collected 444 total points, have lost four of their last six games. Faulkner hopes to rebound this weekend with a three-game set against William Carey (Miss.)• Rounding out the top five are No. 3 Oklahoma Wesleyan (435 points), No. 4 Bellevue (Neb.) (432 points) and No. 5 Central Methodist (Mo.) (383 points).• The No. 5 ranking is the highest in program history for Central Methodist, dating back to 2000. The Eagles are 32-8 on the season, including a 16-4 mark in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Central Methodist jumped five spots from its No. 10 perch last installment.• Missouri Baptist highlights the forward movement in the poll, as the Spartans jumped from No. 22 to No. 10 this week. The club has won 11 of its last 12 games, including three-game sweeps of Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), Park (Mo.) and Lyon (Ark.).• Three new teams joined the Top 25 in No. 22 Mayville State (N.D.), No. 23 Huntington (Ind.) and No. 25 IU Southeast (Ind.). Mayville State is ranked for the first time since the 2003 Preseason Poll, while Huntington garners Top 25 mention for the first time in program history (since 2000). IU Southeast returns to the poll after falling out in the first regular-season edition.• Lewis-Clark State leads all active members with 58 total No. 1 mentions, dating back to 2000. Ten other teams have been ranked No. 1 in at least two polls: Oklahoma City (33), Faulkner (13), former member Lubbock Christian (Texas) (13), former member Embry-Riddle (Fla.) (11), Georgia Gwinnett (8), LSU Shreveport (La.) (6), former member Lee (Tenn.) (6), Cumberland (Tenn.) (6) and Tennessee Wesleyan (2).• The Heart of America Athletic Conference is the only league with multiple teams ranked among the top 10 – No. 5 Central Methodist and No. 9 Clarke (Iowa).• The Southern States Athletic Conference, Sooner Athletic Conference and The Sun Conference lead all leagues with three teams each.• Fourteen-of-18 conferences have at least one school represented in the poll.

Poll Methodology• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the Association of Independent Institutions.• The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.• The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low ratings) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appears on.• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”• Frequency of polls occur by-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) for the 2016-17 academic season. This change allows raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work between ratings periods.• For the complete Top 25 calendar, click here.

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